The Internet is here to stay, and having an online presence is an important part of any business plan. For most companies, the first step is securing a domain name. Unfortunately, that's often more difficult than you might anticipate. Metaphor offers this overview of the history, importance, and future of domain names to assist in that process.
A domain name is your address on the Internet. It's also called a Uniform Resource Locator, or URL, and it serves a function similar to the mailing address used by the postal service to deliver your printed mail: it identifies the location where you can receive information or where others can access information that you make available. We don't all need the same things from our websites -- they can range from a simple presentation of your offline contact information to a virtual storefront with all the bells, whistles, and security features available to online shoppers -- but we all need a simple and memorable way for our customers and clients, present and potential, to find us online.
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